Posted tagged ‘Maura Tierney’

My husband doesn’t understand it. My children just roll their eyes. Sorry people, but I have to gush…just a bit. Just have to swell with just a little bit of excitement.

My favorite actress is back!

Not that she was really gone. Her character left ER in the episode written just for her – ‘The Book of Abby’ – in October of 2008. Abby and Luka moved to Boston. She returned for a small cameo seventeen episodes later giving Paraminder Nagra’s ‘Neela’ a reassuring nudge to leave Chicago. Then she was gone….from television.

Talk about quitting cold turkey. Not her. Me.

I was used to getting spoiler alerts, google alerts, tweets and bits and pieces about ‘ER’ in general…..but Maura Tierney specifically. I had been a fan of hers since….well….forever. I even tripped totally out of my comfort zone and took my two personal business days in SEPTEMBER (I am a Teacher, remember?) to fly to New York to see her perform in an off Broadway play. Even got to meet her while I was there….twice! And now, there was nothing.

While she was off relaxing, recouping and living her ‘regular’ life, there were a legion of fans (and I know this is true as I am privy to several web groups of fans) watching….and waiting …..for her next project.

There was a flurry of excitement with the news that she would be part of the cast of ‘Parenthood’ – NBC’s newest series in development. The cast was phenominal with Maura at it’s center playing ‘Sarah Braverman’, single mom of 2 teens who moves back into the family fold. A dysfunctional family fold. I was so excited at the prospect of a regular dose of her talent again….and even more intrigued at the thought of seeing her ply acting chops with Mae Whitman – another favorite – who was cast as her daughter.

A pilot was shot, publicity rounds started and things began to leak out about the show. Most of the critics gave the pilot a so-so rating but all of them said that Maura’s performance was a highlight….giving the show promise. All was well in my little world and I was looking forward to the all season.

Then devastating news that Maura would be leaving the show because of a health issue. A health issue that required surgery and subsequent treatment. Maura Tierney had breast cancer.

You can imagine the frustration of the production team. What to do now? Their show was set. Scripts written. And one of their stars was going AWOL. Unofficial word from someone who worked on the set via someone on one of the web boards was that the production team was willing to wait out the surgery and support the treatment plan. Word was they were attempting to force her to honor her contract. But she held her ground (not wanting that particular period in her life to be filmed in HD…who can blame her?) and in the end, they let her go. They recast the part and the show continued. It was one of the hits of midseason….and definitely a ‘different’ kind of show than it would have been had she stayed. My sister loves it.

Sigh.

And once again I – we – were reduced to waiting for bits and pieces of news. And there was nothing. Absolutely nothing. Until December.

That is when Joe Tierney, former Boston Councilman and Maura Tierney’s father, died of cancer. A surprise to the general public, I think. Followed shortly by the news that Maura Tierney would be joining the cast of ‘North Atlantic’ by theater’s eccentric Wooster Group. Even before the production went into rehearsal there were bits and pieces…and once rehearsals started – pictures! Grainy, clandestine pictures. When the show started there were ‘reviews’ and updates and pictures from web friends. One particularly special internet buddy was able to see the show in Los Angeles (where she goes to school) AND New York (where she was participating in a school sponsored program)….twice! The gods were with her and the timing worked out. Lucky.

But now, Lady Luck has struck again – for all of us. Maura Tierney will be returning to weekly television in September…this time with ABC’s ‘The Whole Truth.’ She will be trading her emergency room scrubs for stylish suits as an officer of the court. Somehow, I think her dad would approve. And being the lover of legal eagle television that I am, I will be watching.

I am not quite sure how I happened upon FanFiction.net. I think I was reading something written by someone else that I found at a fan site. All I know and understand is that this web site kicked my long dormant writing needs back into high gear. I had been floundering as a writer. And as geeky and as wierd as this post may sound to the ‘normal’ reader and/or writer, I will be forever grateful.

I have written before about my long standing fixation with the television show ‘ER’ and how difficult it was to break a 10 pm Thursday night ‘habit.’ I have written about taking a 3 day dream trip to NYC to see ER’s Maura Tierney strut her acting chops on stage. And I have written about how important writing has been to me since I was a child. I think – somewhere in these posts – I have written about original aspirations to be a television writer. I am ALWAYS rewriting things other people have written if they don’t turn out to my satisfaction…..or if I want to know more. And that is the case with Fanfiction.net.

You can choose a television show, movie, play, anime etc. to write about. You can continue a story line or character you are intrigued with or you can invent your own. You can write the back story of a situation or character to round it out in your own mind. You can post your story for others to read. Readers can post a review of your piece….or not. At any rate, the program records the ‘hits’ on your story so you can see of people are reading it.

And THAT is very intriguing.

I wrote seventeen pieces for the ‘ER’ section of Fanfiction.net during a two and a half year period. There are a number of other things posted on various fan sites that were part of writing ‘competitions.’ (Writers are given the same perimeters and a set time to finish and post a piece to be voted on or judged. It was fun to see the different perspectives that evolved in that manner.) I experimented with different styles of writing, discovered a lot about myself as a writer and had a tremendous amount of fun. I gathered a small circle of internet friends who also wrote for ‘ER’ – people who gave me advice, support and lots of positive feedback.

All of my fan fiction stories revolve around this couple:

Abby Lockhart and Luka Kovac

Brought to life by actors Maura Tierney and Goran Visnjic.

Writing for established characters is as easy as it is challenging – especially when you are working with characters as well played as these two. You can picture them in your mind because you have seen them on screen. You know their verbal inflections, their physical cues, their emotions, their history. The trick is to stay in character and make your readers see the same things you do. And its tricky.

Abby and Luka had lived a hard scrabble life in Chicago from seasons 5 to 14. Co-workers, lovers, ex-lovers, attached to others, unattached, co-workers, friends, lovers again, parents together and finally married, seperated by an ocean, seperated by a blackout, together again. Both were gone by the third episode of season 15…..living happily ever after far from County General’s emergency room madness. My first piece however, was written after the episode ‘All About Christmas Eve’ in December of 2006 in which Abby – in the last few seconds of the show – informed Luka that she was pregnant The series then went on a holiday hiatus.

For THREE weeks.

Without knowing what their outcome was going to be, and extremely frustrated about that, I began the story, The Things We Do, and posted chapter one on December 22nd. Reviews were favorable and people were reading it. I posted another chapter. Three months and twenty one chapters later, it remains the most popular of all of my Fanfiction pieces. I am not sure why. Its the one I stumbled the most on. And yet it offers a blissful Luby life that definitely did not play out on the show. That happy Kovac family – an AU or ‘alternative universe’ story line – has been continued in The Rules of the Road, A Camper’s Guide to Family Fun and Christmas in Croatia.

While writing The Things We Do, I began to realize that there was a relationship that I wanted to see on the show and didn’t. And that was a friendship between Abby and Susan Lewis. So I started the story All We’ll Ever Need– continuing the AU story of Susan Lewis, her husband Chuck, their son Cosmo and her niece Susie. I was writing both of them at the same time.

Susan, as brought to life by actress Sherry Stringfield, is fun to write. I love Susan. I love her smile, her laugh, her snarky sense of humor, her self confidence, her attitude…..and her hair. Even when its messy it looks good.

Seriously.

Her niece, Susie, was last seen on the show as an infant and heard on the phone as a 5 or six year old. I imagined her into an incredibly bright and beautiful 13 year old and she has evolved from there. Their story intersects with the Kovacs in Camper’s Guide, Christmas in Croatia and plays out side by side in Duplex.

Back stories fill in some of the ‘holes’ that a television drama is unable to spend time with. Lockhart IS Bettertells the story of Abby’s first marriage to Richard, who has popped up on the show at various times. Letters From Lukais how I imagined his life before showing up on a boat. Its basically a series of letters to and from his parents in Croatia as he travels through the Great Lakes on a sailboat. I kind of lost my muse on that one. It still needs a clear ending. Wild Cat began as a piece for a competition and the first chapter is about baseball and the Luby baby’s first birthday. It has evolved into the back story of Abby’s parents – Maggie and Eddie. It also needs to be finished. I was having trouble writing about bi-polar symptoms and needed more research.

Sometimes a character serves as a stepping off point also. In Primary Colors the back story of a little girl from the season 12 episode, ‘The Human Shield’ intertwines with Abby and Luka’s. Juliette Gogolia, played ‘Sydney’ a kidnap victim that was central to the entire episode and brought the Luby love story back into play. My ‘hook’ was the use of primary colors interwoven through each of the seven chapters. There was something red, yellow and green/blue mentioned in each of them. Kinda cool to write…and a bit sad.

Another minor guest character in the episode, ‘No Place to Hide’ – Ruthie Poole – became a central character for Abby and Luka’s story about their life after ER. The show moved Abby and Luka to Boston, where I picked up their story in This Time. I really enjoyed writing this because it was fun to have the family created by the television writers carry on with their lives. It was a place to write about some resolutions. Especially between Abby and her mother – a television relationship created between Tierney and Sally Field. It’s their ending as I imagined it to be.

When I was struggling with descriptive writing, I started the story Just Looking. Its basically a series of scenarios in a day in the life of Luka and Abby that uses descriptions and just the words ‘just looking’ ‘ throughout. It is an ongoing challenge….and fun.

My favorite story – and in my opinion the best one – was the fifth story I wrote for Fanfiction.net. I started it after the season 12 climatic ender – 21 Guns. If you didn’t see it – it was pretty spectacular. The ER is shot up (Quentin Tarantino style), Luka is strapped to a gurney with a tube in his throat and a pregnant Abby is last seen passed out on the floor in a pool of blood. That’s where they left fans for the SUMMER! Spoiler information was still weeks away and I was going nuts. Seriously nuts. So I began writing a possible story line. In Heartache, I did the unthinkable. I killed their baby.

I think I was the only fan fiction writer to take the leap and do it too.

I put almost 28,000 words into that 23 chapter story and got a whomping 135 reviews. This doesn’t count the private e-mails I received before I removed my address from the site. People were ready to lynch me. How dare I imagine such a sad end for a BABY???? The first chapter is a heartbreaker. Then, like most of my work, it evolves into a study of a relationship that has gone through the worst and comes courageously out the other side. It brings Abby and Luka full circle at County General. It has also received a FanFiction ‘Hall of Fame’ award….and I love it.

Seventeen pieces at FanFiction.net have garnered me 211,762 internet ‘hits.’ I have accrued 804 reviews and am still getting them today….four years later. And I am writing my own – original – stuff again. I am creating characters and building scenarios and writing descriptions and designing my own plots. And I have FanFiction.net to thank.

The website is a fun place to ‘hang out’ if you have time on your hands. Or if you like to read. Or write. There are over 5,000 ER stories posted there. Glee has almost 7,000, Charmed has 12,000, Buffy the Vampire Slayer has 39,000 and Punky Brewster has 4. And there are more categories for movies and books plays, games comics and animes. Some written stories are outstanding and others are not. All of them are someone’s attempt to share ideas……and write.

Leave a review for the writer. It really does make our day.

As for me, I really need to work on The Mouse and the Mayflower again. I have my families from the Duplex at Walt Disney World. I keep seeing the esteemed Dr. Luka Kovac wearing a pair of Mickey Mouse ears…..or a Goofy hat. Gotta go write about it.

Titles are links that should take you to the web site for that story. Enjoy!

It’s been a yucky weekend thus far. Warm enough outside to melt our hard earned snow into that cruddy, muddy spring like mush. I mean, the dog will actually GO outside with little persuasion. Not too cold. Its the kind of weather I hate. The ONLY weather in Michigan that I abhorr. Warming but too muddy to do anything outside. The television has been running constantly. The kiddos have been running constantly. So what’s a bored out of her skull lazy Mom to do???

PLAY!!!

I pulled out my mini Lego collection. The container that I got from the Lego store at Down Town Disney after Christmas….and another one I filled three years ago. What fun. I started to build but then transferred my efforts to this:

There is something decidedly comforting in sorting all the little pieces into color groups and then style groups. I think. Maybe it’s just the former Kindy Teacher in me. I tend to relish order in some things….small things. Like cross stitching floss and silver ware drawers. And while I was working and watching television I was transported back to memories of the play I saw in NYC a year and a half ago. ..Three Changes by Nicky Silver. Laurel (played by Maura Tierney) does a little monologue where in she describes giving her husband (played by Dylan McDermott) – who is depressed after losing his job – a button box. She describes how he pours them out on to his bed and then sorts them. By color and by style. Then he pours them back onto the bed and starts all over again. Okaaaaay. So it creeped me out a little. Especially since I was doing the same thing and HIS character falls off the tracks. Literally. Being glad there is no subway in my midwestern piece of Americana, I gathered up the Legos and put them back into these:

367 pieces.

Two containers.

$7.99 each

And it was scarey that except for one teeny tiny clear orange piece and one teeny tiny round blue piece, I had an equal, even number of every single style. Yikes. I was counting????? Isn’t that a sort of symptom of….something?????

And so I moved on. To this:

Thanks to three trips of my own to the Down Town Disney Potato Head kiosk and one enthusiastic birthday gift shopping trip by my brother in law, I have an awesome collection of Mr. Potato Head stuff.

I have this:

Pirates, Mary Poppins and a clone trooper…..

Mickey, Lady Liberty and Davy Crockett

I also have Tinkerbell, a Princess and half of Darth Vader. (Long story) And these….

And thanks to a Grandma who provided preschool games to the Prince and his cousin….

I even have little Spud heads!

This used to be a favorite play center for my Kindy kids. I didn’t bring it out that often so they knew it was special and needed to be taken care of. Now I am in need of a bigger box to store them. And someone to play with them with me.

Sigh.

I think tomorrow we will drag the Prince’s soccer stadium Lego set out from under his bed.

It was that kind of day. I had the sniffles. Rainy and dreary outside and BOTH soccer practices had been cancelled. BOTH of them. It very rarely happens that we aren’t picking one child up and dragging another in the opposite direction during the week. Rarely…heh. So how did I choose to celebrate? By trying out a new recipe, of course!

This is not a cooking blog. Not by any means. I have mentioned several cooking incidences….such as the disappearing apple brown betty….and the pesto pizza the Princess and I were hooked on for a while….and the step by step directions for swiss steak posted for the Prince’s future benefit. But I am far from being the kind of master cook that would dare to talk about cooking here. FAR from it. Tonight I chose to tackle my very first home made Macaroni and Cheese.

Now Mac’n Cheese has long been a staple in my family’s life. Not the REAL stuff however. More like the orangey Kraft stuff from the box. Nothing goes better with hot dogs and ketchup…or fish sticks and applesauce. And we have a LONG history with it. The stuff practically got me through Sunday nights while I was in college. The instant microwave packages were the very first things my kids learned to cook on their own, I think. They used to eat it for breakfast before school on cold, winter mornings. (I am not a Mom who divides food into specific meals. If they eat anything hot for breakfast, it’s a good day!) And if we really want to go gourmet we use the white cheddar or Shells and Cheese boxes.

Several weeks ago, a recipe in People magazine caught my eye. The Waverly Inn Truffled Mac and Cheese. The Waverly Inn is in New York City. People wait for weeks – no, months, I think – for a reservation there. Intriguing. I have never eaten there. I don’t even live in New York City. I only know about it because Maura Tierney was photographed there while out with friends. (Yes, I remain a geeky fan. See her recent turn on ‘Rescue Me’?? Fabulous!)

Anyway, the recipe looked simple enough. I don’t exactly keep Da Rosario white truffle oil ($12 for 1.76 oz. bottle) in my pantry but I figured it was almost a minor item (added after cooking…’to taste’??) even though it was listed in the recipe’s name. I even bought whole milk for the occasion…..which we NEVER have on hand. We are a 1/2 percent family.

I dutifully boiled up the one pound box of macaroni and set it aside (with a drop of olive oil to keep it from sticking). I melted butter and whisked it with flour and dijon mustard untill it was a fragrant golden color. Oops. Added the milk a little quickly but continued to whisk and stir while the milk boiled and the sauce thickened. I added the Monterey Jack and sharp cheddar cheeses and stirred them until all the shredded pieces were melted and the mixture was fragrant and creamy. I skipped the salt because I didn’t have unsalted butter to use in the beginning. It wasn’t really until I began to add the macaroni to the pan and it was beginning to overflow that I realized how much Waverly Inn Untruffled Mac and Cheese I was going to have on my hands. And the stove. And the counter top. And, eventually, the dinner table.

Undaunted, I poured the mixture into one of my biggest baking dishes and covered the top with toasted bread crumbs, slipped it in the oven to finish heating through and set about finishing the pulled pork barbecue sandwiches we were having with the humungeous main dish. Added cottage cheese, cold veggies and dip, sugar free Kool Aid and dinner was served.

I am not sure if it was all my anticipation of the fragrant dish, my sniffles, the rain drumming on our roof….or the absence of the Da Rosario white-truffle oil to taste. Maybe it was just the years and years and years of Kraft boxes in our cupboard. The Waverly Inn’s Untruffled Mac and Cheese just did not do it for me. Or for anyone else at our table. It was so…so….so bland. Sigh.

Princess ran the rest of it to the neighbor’s, who were happy to have it for their dinner.

I am not sure what Ms. Tierney and her friends were eating at the Waverly Inn. Or anyone else for that matter. I am not sure what else they serve there. It might be interesting to find out. Might.

I used to be impressed that a chef – or restaurant – could demand that kind of wait time for reservations. I am not so much any more. I realize that I am no master chef and my ingredients might not be the same quality. But if I am ever in New York again, I will hit Morandi or Chez Josephine for a late lunch…..and serve up a microwave cup of Kraft’s mac and cheese back at the hotel for dinner. Or maybe just stop by the corner hot dog stand. I am SO not a hoity toity when it comes to food. I enjoy presentation. I enjoy anticipation. I enjoy something different. I enjoy fun. But sometimes the orangey Krafts stuff is juuuuust right.

I finally got my letter in the mail the other day. After six days of waiting. It was a while before I could bring myself to open it. Scanning down the form I saw the little box next to ‘Mammogram’ checked and then farther down the letters ‘OK’ written.

That’s it?

Don’t get me wrong. I was very, VERY happy to read those two letters. It’s just that you’d think the anxiety prior and the actual test would warrant something a little more wordy. Something like ‘patient reaction to compression’ (OUCH!) or ‘area vs depth upon compression ratio is good’ ….. Just something more than ‘OK.’

At my age, I have had a fair number of mammograms. Now I am supposed to have them yearly. Yuck. They are not fun….but not too bad either. I am extremely sensitive to the way I am treated when having one. Insensitivity from a technician or the slightest inking of embarrassment and I go elsewhere. I like where I get them now. The technician reminds me to breathe. I never realized that I wasn’t breathing. So it’s friendly and fast and they have great magazines. Not that you get to read any of them to any great extent. Even though it was busier than I have ever known them to be, I was still in and out rather quickly…..for a medical appointment.

Women – as a rule – are not really talkative when it comes to mammograms and breast care. At least in my little world they aren’t. It’s not something that comes up in conversation as a rule. If it does, we tend to keep things light hearted. We share ‘war’ stories involving rough technicians who stepped a little too hard on the pedal to the compressor. Or of mammary glands that were surely seperated from chest walls in the interest of ‘better’ health care. We tend to join walks/rides to raise money for breast cancer research and education instead. Unless someone close to us has an issue. And in my circle of acquaintences there have been several instances of ‘issues’ in the past few weeks.

B took advantage of a free mammogram offer during a small business trade show a year ago. I found out about her surgery and chemo treatments in a lengthy family news letter that came with an invitation to her daughter’s graduation party. It kind of rocked my heart a little bit. I was the first grade teacher to three of her now college age five children. She was a good friend and important part of the ‘village’ that we used to help raise my son years ago. They moved to another state when he was five. He has a lot of memories of adventures with her family…not the least of which is always wanting to live in a house with stairs so he could ‘slide’ down them like her kids did. Today I am a regular visitor to her Caring Bridge site to get up dates on her treatments and to share in her delight of the curls that fall down the back of her head again…finally.

I was surprised at church one Sunday to see prayers requested for S. She was a friend and family camping buddy until other responsibilities and interests pulled us in other directions. I hadn’t seen her in a long while. And when I did, she was wearing a hat to cover her bald head but her smile was the same. Normally as regular as clockwork about mammograms, she had put this year’s off because of general busy-ness. Until a surgeon requested that she have one done before hernia surgery. Her cancer was stage 3. Always the optimist, she is counting her blessings that a hernia forced her to follow through. Had she waited much longer it might have been stage 4 with fewer options for treatment.

T is a member of a message board that I frequent for author Susan Elizabeth Phillips. It’s a busy board where fans share thoughts about everything from reality TV shows to monthly reminders that ‘it’s time to check the TaTas!’ I have bookmarked T’s blog since discovering that she is a Teacher and a Mom and a writer like me. She is facing breast surgery in August and needs to take days off during the first week of school. I can relate to that extra anxiety of being gone from a new class of fourth graders…..totally.

I had known for a while that RS had a close call with breast cancer some years ago. It wasn’t until I asked my Facebook friends to share their mammogram experiences that I got her full story. It was one of frustrations, friends, decisions and family. She pissed off an oncologist because she didn’t accept his plan. She is empowered. She is a Special Ed Teacher. And a Wife, a Mom and a Grandmother. I have learned from her that each and every day is a blessing and to live it the best way that you can.

Maura Tierney was forced to come out with a public statement about her breast cancer situation. She is an actress that I have followed as a fan for many, many years. I finally met her after a play in NYC last fall. Twice! I have seen all of her movies, watched ‘NewsRadio’ , followed her work on ‘ER’ for nine seasons and was looking forward to her new ensemble series – ‘Parenthood’ – this fall. That show’s premiere was put on hold due to her ‘health issues.’ NBC’s bungled publicity attempt to keep her medical condition private resulted in a public statement clarify her condition. She has a breast tumor that requires surgery.

While I know she is a very private person who likes to keep her personal life…private….I am not sure that she is aware of how her news as affected the people that frequent the fan message board that I belong to. We are an international group. I am the Elder Statesman of sorts there and have been for years. Sometimes they listen to me and some times they don’t. When Ms. Tierney’s statement was released there was a frenzy of activity and frustration and not knowing what to do. Like a group of caring friends gathering at the local coffee shop, messages were flying. What can we do? What is happening? Anyone find any more news? Finally we did something proactive. We set up a poll where members could post that they had either gotten a mammogram or done a self check of their breasts because of Maura Tierney’s statement. Things calmed down significantly. We shared stories of friends and family members that had gone through the same sort of thing. We shared links that described proper steps for self checking. What to look for. We were talking. And I scheduled my over due mammogram.

My daughter is fourteen. She would definitely fall into the ‘itty bitty’ category a friend described when telling me about the ‘spatula’ tool that was on the mammography machine when she went for her mammogam. It was for members of that ‘club’ and male patients (and yes, L, I did know that guys can get breast cancer too) When I mentioned that I had an upcoming appointment, I asked my daugter if she would like to go with me….to see what it was all about. She cocked an eyebrow and said, “Now why would I want to do that?” Heh. We were talking. And now she knows a little more about taking care of herself.

And D tickles me to death. She schedules her mammogram for the very same time on the very same day every year. And wears her lucky panties. She is an internet friend I will always want in my corner. We ‘talk’ and we laugh. And I am reminded that there are others with the very same apprehensions that I have.

I think that people in the public venue like Sheryl Crow, Christina Applegate….and Maura Tierney….have the means of reaching people. Reaching women…and men….to remind them. Remind them that it’s important to self check. Remind them to make those mammogram appointments. Remind them to take better care of themselves. Remind them to listen to their doctors and to listen to themselves. Remind them to talk to one another and support one another.

Of course their stories are painful….and private. We are lucky that they are driven to share them. And they are not alone. There are thousands…no…millions….of stories like theirs. But they are the very public voice of my friends and I. We hope that you are hearing them loud and clear.

You know what they are. Handy little places to slip ‘important’ things. Things you don’t want to lose. Drawers that very quickly are over run with ‘important’ things. Drawers that you end up scrambling through to find that ‘thing’ you need. One of mine happens to be the drawer of my computer desk.

In my quest to do some badly needed deep, organizational cleaning of the corners of my house, I tackled that insidious drawer. What I thought would be an ominous task turned out to be a pleasantly needed trip down memory lane. Here are some of the things I found:

*More receipts and papers than one is EVER expected to save….including seven year old one for the Princess’ first two wheeler.

*6 teeny, tiny dice and 4 teeny, tiny frogs. I have tucked them in a little tin box to make a teeny, tiny game or two. : )

*Gigantic paperclips – bought them at Target one time because they are cool. Can’t bring myself to use them because I know they’ll be lost.

* A mother lode of different kinds of flash drives. (It’s a fetish of mine)

*Coin envelopes and clear ID card protectors that I used when I taught Kindergarten. Kept them. That stuff ALWAYS comes in handy.

*two different sized phillips screw drivers, two eyeglass repair kits and the tiniest little screw driver I have ever seen that won’t fit in an eyeglass repair kit. Have NO clue what it goes to but I’m keeping it.

*Another mother lode of sticker sheets – also used when I taught Kindergarten – which I stuck into an envelope for Rabbit. Not much but it’ll keep her busy for a few hours this summer.

*the missing key to the fire proof strong box we bought before leaving for Boston. I was certain there would be abreak in or a fire and all of our adoption/citizenship/birth certificates and what not would be gone. I am fearful like that.

*A whole passel of the newsletters I used to send to family when the Prince was a toddler. Dang but he was a funny little kid. Emotionally involved with a ……zucchini?

*Two nearly empty package of batteries for hearing aids I no longer use. Different sizes from the ones I need now. Pitched ’em.

*old Russian coins, a handful of pennies, Canadian coins and 4 old tokens for Chuck E Cheese….upon seeing which my 15 year old asks, “hey…when can we go there?” Riiiiight. I’ve done my duty in that noisy, overwhelming, pepperoni reeking realm.

*Pictures, pictures and MORE pictures. Tucked them away with all of the others I need to go through and file and scrapbook or…something. What are you supposed to do with pictures anyway?

*clear nail polish, a tube of some kind of prescription eye cream and two tubes of athletes’ foot cream. Two?

*Lego pieces…another fetish of mine. Not that I like to build with them or anything (although I have spent countless hours assembling and disassembling the Prince’s Lego soccer stadium in the past)…but I do like to have interesting pieces handy. Just ask my family about my jaw dropping to the floor at Disney Market Place’s Lego store. HUNDREDS of little drawers with MILLIONS of little pieces. Buy a container and you can put ANYTHING inside it and as much as you can fit. Heh. NEVER give me that challenge. Just ask the people at the Mr. Potato Head kiosk. I ALWAYS get my money’s worth. : )

*Four apostilled copies of the Princess’ final adoption follow up reports . When you drive to the state capital to get them done personally you might as well get a bunch. And I love knowing the word ‘apostille.’ It’s the kind of word that snakes it’s way around your tonuge and through your brain. Especially if you are working your way through an international adoption.

*The translation of a thank you letter sent to the Princess from her friends at the orphanage. Several months after bringing her home, we sent a box of goodies (Legos, candy, balloons, socks, Matchbox cars, etc.) with another couple going to the same orphanage .

*a print out of a short email from my deceased Grandmother about her father owning a ‘dray team’ when she was a child. Can’t remember why she sent it but yeah, my grandmother died when she as 97 and had used computers and e-mail regularly. It’s in my genes.

*An ‘Obama ’08’ button, an MEA membership button and a tin, heartshaped necklace ornament with the word ‘Mom’ inscribed…which I am sure came from an elementary school Holiday Shoppe.

*a battered, falling apart portrait of me as a four year old that my parents had drawn the night before I went to the hospital to have my tonsils removed. I seriously need to get it repaired. And framed.

*A Bible study guide for the book of Ephesians…which was my favorite Bible class when I was in college at Oklahoma Christian University…..way back when it was just Oklahoma Christian College.

*Ticket stubs for almost everything we did in Boston on last year’s GRAND summer vacation. Stuck them in one of the aforementioned coin envelopes. (see? It came in handy)

* a Playbill for ‘Three Changes’ – a play with Maura Tierney that I saw last fall on a FABULOUS 1st adventure to the Big Apple. Met her too. She’s very sweet to her fans.

*a print out of a story I posted YEARS ago on a Kindergarten Teachers’ web ring about a rough and tough little tomboy of a girl who kept hugging me all day after about a week of school. Couldn’t figure out why until she finally said she liked hugging me because ‘we make a really cool sound together.’ Hearing aid feed back. It’ll get you every time. : )

I found more stuff. LOTS more. And there were things I didn’t find. Like the recharger to my Kodak digital which I haven’t been able to use in like…forever. Dang. Or any of the 100 sharpened pencils that were there last fall. Not one. Or the gum packages that I tend to put there now and then. Gone.

And that’s the way of the Junk Drawer. Things come and things go. They tend to hold bits and pieces of your life, don’t they? And most everything has a story. ‘Important’ stuff. Kinda fun to sort through on a lazy, rain threatened day.

Tonight it comes to an end. After fifteen years. Actually….I didn”t want to be caught up in the flood of blog entries that are probably going to follow this finale. Maybe. I had intended to post something way earlier than this. But I have gotten caught up in school stuff (ggrrr….seventh grade Science…AGAIN!) and other obligations. Tonight however, I intend to plunk myself in front of the television at 8 for a retrospective and then at 9 for a two hour finale. AND record it so I can watch it all again.

I have written about all this here before. When I first started watching ER, it was at the insistence of my sister. As someone reliant on lip reading, I couldn’t handle the fast paced dialog, the fast moving characters and all the medical jargon. Didn’t like it at all. But, I was seriously hooked during the first season’s rerun stretch. It was summer. I was rocking a baby to sleep at night. Much slower pace of life. I could watch the show on Thursday and call my sister on Friday and have her give me the dialog run down. I enjoyed Susan Lewis’ snarkiness, wanted a doctor exactly like Mark Greene and thoroughly enjoyed Benton’s Carter torture. And I was stricken by Jeanie Boulet’s story….loved Kellie Martin’s character…..and Doug and Carol’s drama. Actors moved on and new ones came in. I watched and kept up a mild interest…..until season six. Enter….Luka Kovac….and later….Abby Lockhart.

I had been aware of Goran Visnjic and Maura Tierney from their previous work. “Welcome to Sarajevo” was already part of our video library. I had stumbled on it at Blockbuster because we were in the midst of another international adoption – one of the underlying themes of that film. I was also a fan of ‘NewsRadio’ and was a bit perturbed at the news of Maura being added to the ER cast. Never thought she would fit in there. I never thought the two of them – as Abby and Luka – would ever consume me as much as they have. But it wasn’t so much as a viewer as much as a plodding writer. The ‘Luby II’ drama got me writing again. REALLY writing. I mean, really REALLY writing. Constantly. Obsessively.

Frustrated with the show’s writers and what they were doing with the characters led me to the internet fan fiction sites. Which gave me a viable audience for my storytelling. Which led me to Maura and Goran internet web boards. Which in turn gave me a circle of internet buddies who were writers and fans of the show as well. Which led me to blogging. Which led me to other blogs…blogging friends….and more serious thought about writing. And their friendships gave me the courage and determination to take a solo trip to NYC to see Maura Tierney in a play last fall. Much to my husband’s dismay.

So ER ends it’s fifteen year run tonight. The baby that I rocked to sleep while watching in the beginning is now salivating over the start of his driver’s education class at the end of the month. His sister, whose adoption at the age of 5 was spurred on by ‘Welcome to Sarajevo’, is the current 7th grade Science not-student. They have just barely tolerated this ER fascination for the last few years. The Friday morning drive to school run down of the previous night’s show is now drowned out by ipods. Not that we haven’t had some fun with it. Her favorite memory is of the ‘wedding cake’ we enjoyed the night Abby and Luka were married. Crazy mom let them stay up, eat a store bought mini carrot cake and toast with Sprite in plastic champagne glasses as the ER wedding was taking place. Crazy mom….but that event was a LONG time coming. Seriously. We just HAD to celebrate it.

Don’t know what I will be thinking tonight as it ends. I know I will miss it. We are talking a fifteen year habit here. Actors and writers and directors and assistant producers and production assistants will move on and I will follow their careers. I have ER dvd collections to watch. I am still going to be seriously writing myself. And I do know that I am keeping my ER friends. Every single one of them. Do you hear that people?? I am going to keep bugging you. So it ain’t really over, I guess. Not at all.

All About Me…..sorta

I am a Christian, Wife, Mother, Sister, Daughter, Stepmom and Teacher. My two internationally adopted All American kiddos are adults now but dragged me kicking and screaming into 'Soccer Momhood.' I miss it. I almost always have a novel in progress on my laptop. I abhorr housework and avoid it at all costs. Except for folding clothes. Somehow that relaxes me.
Go figure.....